and Persons wedded to their Senses and corpulent in Vice do not apprehend it and think there 's no such Matter because they cannot see it 't is too too thin to catch hold of their Senses and they too too thick for Incorporeal and Soul Notions It will be necessary to acquaint them with another Death which is after these we have mentioned and that is Eternal Now such Persons as we have mention'd may escape the first violent Death being not capitally punished in this Life but they shall not escape this last Death if they cheat the Gibbet and seare their Consciences yet they shall meet an Eternal Death with Satan their Lord and Master Were it possible for a Man to be always stabbing and slaying his Soul with Wantonness Pride Covetousness and other Vices and yet not smart as would his Body if consum'd with Ulcers and Dropsies yet the dart of Eternal Death is too too sharp not to be felt and this will plainly appear if we consider what eternal Death is And it is the state of the Demned It is a cursed departing from Christ into Everlasting Fire It is Blackness of Darkness for ever the Worm which never dies Eternal Damnation and Everlasting Punishment And were it possible for me to tell you all the pains of loss and sense wrapt up in this shroud of Death what it is to be punish'd with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his power what it is to dwell and to dwell for ever in a Lake of Fire fed with Brimstone what it is to have a Worm and that Worm as long as Eternity to be knawing and grinding our Souls Could I read and explain all the Deeds and Conveyances of Hell to shew you the Lease the for ever Lease that the Damned have got for their Souls and Bodies in the bottomless Pit Could I but describe to you the nature of Eternal Death you must conclude that 't is too too keen not to be perceiv'd and too certain and evident not to be avoided and they who get this Prize for their running and these Wages for their labour must needs be in a very sad and doleful condition their end is such an Eternal Death Phanias having thus confirm'd the two Propositions which his promised Method obliged him to he proceeded to give his Hearers some proper Directions whereby they might digest the full Feast of Knowledge which he had caressed them with and so they might be strong and well skill'd in opposing that politick Enemy Mistaken Wisdom which as he declar'd wars against Man's Soul And his first Direction herein was First Di 〈◊〉 that all Men would ponder and consider before they act For whilst they walk in this World they are in the company of Deceivers and they had need have their Eyes in their Heads and their Hands upon their Purses that is use all care that they be not deluded and in this Employment they should spend their time They should daily send out some Spies to give them true Intelligence and they should be as careful to get as good Law and Counsel to save their Souls as they are to secure their Bodies and Estates from the crasty Cheats and Delusions of others Believe it They should travel their Pilgrimage beset about with Guides and Opticks and all sorts of clear Glasses tied at their Girdles with Targets to defend their Heads and Eyes and with Weapons to force them away who would break and pull them from them This is their main business and this business they do or should know and own to be truly necessary and yet this is their usual Folly and Madness that they too too much neglect it They commonly pin their Welfare upon the Sleeves of Education and Custom doing as others do and have done before them and little very little regard why or wherefore they act thus or otherwise And whilst this is their course of life their Spiritual Enemies the Devil and their Lusts vanquish them for they lay Nets and Traps in their Walks and they never searching but running strait on are at length catcht and destroyed in them Now to overcome this danger this 〈◊〉 deadly danger they should fix their Thoughts upon what they do and examine what is their Rule and whither they tend They should consider whether their Enterprizes have God's Word for their Rule or only their own Wills and Desires which are naturally vain and vile They should turn their Actions this side and that and note which way their Bias leads them whether to Shame and Death or to Life and Glory whether to eternal Misery or Happiness They should pass no day without some Heavenly Soliloquy or holy dialogue with their Souls asking them what grounds they have to lay the 〈◊〉 of their Salvation on God's Mercy and their 〈◊〉 Merits How they can make it appear that they are Christ's Subjects and he their King What measure of Faith they have by which they expect the hope of Righteousness What Observance and Obedience to God by which they may be mark'd out and noted for his Friends as faithful Abraham was Such such Employs and Meditations are suitable for Christians high-born and precious Souls and when they are conversant in them they will be able to act according to the Prescriptions of true Wisdom and Knowledge Moreover since all of us are so much abus'd by our Natural Selves and our affected Folly and Knowledge wheedle us into the dark Chambers of Death let us resolve to cashiere these Enemies for ever never were such Stratagems and Delusions made use of as they exercise daily towards us They continually sport themselves with the Gulls and Cheats which they put upon us for they promise us Gardens and give us Dunghils Streams of Milk and Honey and give us an 〈◊〉 of Pitch and Brimstone Musical 〈◊〉 and delicious Banquets and only serve up to us wax'd Sweet meats and painted Venison and the Croakings of an affrighted Conscience Moreover they give us the World and at the same time snatch away our Souls and bargain to sell us some hours of Delight for an age of of Repentance and an Eternity of Woe Ask a poor Wretch who hath sadly experienc'd their Cheats what he can say in this case and he can tell you that they only shew'd him Pleasures which did bloodily scratch and bite him pleasant Groves tenanted with Tygers spacious Walks ending in bottomless Gulphs loaded Dishes and Golden Cups Canopied over with Swords and Halberds and underneath the Table lay in one place the Man made with Bones and his Dart in his Hand and hard by a ghastly Ghost with this Label from him Dying but never dead But if this Relation gain no Credit then if we dare be so bold call we up the Ghosts of Doeg Haman and Iudas and ask them how it now fares with them for their Treachery Pride and Cruelty Go go incredulous Fools and raise up Corah Dathan and Abiram
their last end will be thus qualified for there be many intermediate Ends of Vice which have not in them any appearance or symptoms of Death but of some good as Gain Sweetness Pleasure Honour but the last end will be deadly 'T is true the Wanton acts that he may have Pleasure and not Shame and Disease and the Thief robs to get Gain but the last end follows these which are intermediate and that is Death nay Deaths for it is Spiritual and Eternal And this will be found true in every vicious Course that wicked Men approve of and take to be vertuous because pleasing to their carnal Appetites for since the keeping of Gods Commands are recompenced with a double Reward of this Life and a better 't will follow that the breaking of them may be recompenced with a double Death and indeed in one and the same Vice not only a double Death but a manifold way of Destruction may be found as shall appear as we proceed The Holy Scriptures Seal to us the Truth of this Proposition for they say That the way of the wicked shall perish Psal. 1. 7. and if a Man wont turn from the Folly of his false Imaginations God will whet his Sword and bend his Bow and make it ready and prepare for him the Instruments of Death and ordain his Arrows against Psal. 137. 14. him St Iames says Sin bringeth forth Death the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thence the Apostles meaning is that Sin goes with Cap. 1. 15. Child of Death And this shall be made evident in several Instances That the end of Heresie is Death tho this Assertion the end of Adultery Sins are them up upon one the spiritual Death in it self a numerous for it doth not 〈◊〉 Greatness like a 〈◊〉 for many but because the Soul every fresh Heresie like a 〈◊〉 gives it a stab and 〈◊〉 it far more then once Brutus did Caesars shirt Now one Instrument it makes use of to destroy Mans Soul is by killing the Truth which is its Food and Sustenance for that being gone his Soul can no more subsist than the Body can without Meat and Drink But besides these Metaphorical Deaths which Heresies produce the Death of the Body and that more signal than ordinary hath through Gods just Iudgment followed them For Simon Magus who called himself a God could not by his Magical Power get to Heaven but the attempting of it by flight cost him a Fall which cost Euseb. Eccl. H. B. 5. c. 16. him his Life Such a corporal Death besel Theodotus the Montanist and Sorcerer Manes the Founder of the Maniches Socrat. B. 1. C. 22. undertook by Sorcery to heal the King of Persia's Son but instead thereof kill'd him and thereupon was taken and flaid alive his Skin fill'd with Chaff and hang'd at the Gates of his City Arius Socrat. B. 1. C. 38. did vent his Excrements and Life together Olympus an 〈◊〉 Bishop as he Bained himself at Carthage and blasphemed the ever Blessed Trinity was suddenly smitten from Heaven with three Darts and burned 〈◊〉 Cyrinus the Heretical Bishop of Calcedon from Socrat. B. 6. C. 19. a small accidental hurt of his Foot suffered much Misery he first lost both his Feet and then his Life Once more Severus the Heretical Bishop of Antioch had his Tongue pulled out by the Command of the Emperour Iustin Evagr. Eccl. H. A. D. 517. because he reviled the Orthodox Council of Calcedon and Preach'd railing Sermons Thus Heresie the Calenture Plague and Poyson of our Souls winds up fatal Bottoms for us and procures not only one but many ways of Death 2. As for those Carnal ways of Pleasure and Delight and of worldly Gain and Profit which deceive most Persons many of them as Murder Rebellion Sodomy Thieft and others are the High Roads to Capital Punishents and many instead of finding Riches and Content from them have been put off with an Ax or an Halter Yet if the eye of the Law cannot spy them or they escape the Execution of it yet Death will not be so baffled or deluded for if they run from one yet another Death will overtake and Arrest them tho' they run from the Corporal yet the spiritual Death will draw its Bow and fix its Dart in them Tho' they live to the World yet they are dead to Grace walking Carcasses living in Tombs and Sepulchres having putrid and rotten Souls And in good earnest such a living Death was accounted no Contradiction even amongst the Heathens for Persons who ran-counter to Philosophical Rules and whose Actions seemed wise only thro' the Medium of their sensitive Appetites were by them esteemed Dead and no better than rotten and stinking Carcasses Now to avoid this Soul Death the better sort of Heathens have physick'd themselves by mortifying their Bodies for they supposing that corporeal Pleasures were as great Murderers as Syrens who sang Persons into their fatal Embraces did prescribe a moral Purge and a strong one too called by the Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was a whipping Lecture for beating down those Motions which rose up against Reason and begot in the Body a downey softness and did flide them down into the Gulph of iniquity and they unstitched their Souls from too much sticking to bodily Delights and then proposed to them the love of Vertue and heavenly Matters The Stoicks used the same Medicine against this kind of Soul Death or Hectic of Vertue for their Doctors or great Philosophers prescrib'd their Schollars things severe and laborious for some were willing to be bound and others that their Bodies should smart with Rods and Whips How sad and lamentable his Condition is who through counterfeit Knowledge and false Wisdom hath brought his Soul into the Snares of Death may appear because in this Case it is stripp'd stark naked of all Grace and Vertue and it being thus swept and garnished the Devil enters in and takes Possession of it as of a Tenement of his own thus forfeited to him and there Commands as a most cruel and bloody Tyrant and is not this Condition sad Should we see a Person all naked bowed down and sadled and whipt into a full Career by the Devil thro' Church-Yards and over Vaults and Monuments of dry Bodies and Rottenness we would be much affected with the hideous condition of this Person and account it superlative Misery and in Anticipation of Hell it self Yet such is every one who through his own Glass looks well and at the same time is Domineer'd over by his carnal Appetite for he 's possessed and at the Command of Satan and is taken out and Rid up and down by him where he pleaseth And could this be made appear to his Senses it would horribly affright and make him break his Glass through which such a prodigious Monster did look fair and lovely But because this sort of Death is one of a subtle Nature
necessary and therefore should engage us in the Meditation of it because it is the most proper means for that end And when we have fix'd our thoughts to this purpose then we should fix them upon the main thing requir'd in us as We are Christians And that is set down by our Lord and Master from whom we have our Names in the Phrase of being Born again and the necessity of it is added Io. 3. 3. to stir up our diligence in assuring our selves that we are in that Condition for except it be thus we shall not see ver 3. the Kingdom of God So that we must be New or Undone Creatures live in Grace or die in Sin And next to the Necessity if it we must Meditate upon the Excellency the superlative Excellency of that New State As that it makes us partakers of the Divine Nature that is Regenerate by the 2 Cor. 5. 17. Holy Ghost or indewed with new qualities of Righteousness and Holiness wherein we resemble God as Children do their Father bearing the Image of his Wisdom and Purity And also that hereby we become Kings and Priests unto God Kings because of the Victories which in that Condition we obtain against the Flesh the World and the Devil and Priests because then we offer up to God a pure Body and Holy Prayers and the Works of Piety and Mercy The next Object we should fix upon in reference to our selves is to know what we shall be or what kind of future Life we shall live And in order hereto it will highly concern us to Meditate on the four last things namely Death Iudgment Hell Heaven These last things well consider'd will make us always last and live in spight of Death it self Now as a previous motive to six our thoughts upon the first of these Objects DEATH Let us Note that the Regular Death performance hereof may cause our Sins to Dye before they be Old and thereby secure us from the full strength and force of them in our Hearts for 't is the Nature of Sin to be stronger and more fierce when Old than Young the wither'd and drooping Body proves a Medicine for Sin 's growth and flourishing for when the Fort or Outwork of the Soul is Dismantled by many Breaches made in it by Lust and Intemperance and from the frequent Detachments and fresh Supplies sent by Satan from those vicious Habits as from a well furnish'd Magazine which he hath laid up against it then Sin retires into the Castle of Mans Soul and there un tes his Forces and makes them stronger and what Ruines the Out-work that is the Body hath suffer'd doth but Alarm Satan's Industry to make the Castle the more Invincible for himself Now the frequent thoughts of Death may out-wit Satan and prevent this his Stratagem and this should stir us up to be exercis'd in that counterplot and employment and that this will herein prove successful we may be assur'd from hence namely that the Heavenly Arithmetick of Numbering our Days that we may apply our Hearts to Wisdom must be learned by Meditation Hereby we should often visit our Sepulchres and take a turn in our Tombs and Dress our selves up in our winding Sheets By this Art we may make Death our Natures grim Enemy our choice Friend and hereby learn an Acquaintance with it and procure its familiarity and even touch and stroke it and so abate much of its fierceness when of necessity and according to Heavens Statute Law it must and doth come Believe it Meditation of it before is the best Receit to heal the anguish and sharpness of Death when it doth come and after our Thoughts have taken some Turns in the Charnel House let them come forth and by Meditation mount up to the place of Iudgment And there fix we our Minds upon the Righteous Iudge and the Glorious Tribunal and the Various Qualities and Postures of the Prisoners some smiling with their Pardons in their Hands and called by their Loving Master and Saviour from the Bar and plac'd at his Right Hand Others pale and ghastly and trembling under the terrours of a guilty Conscience and Seated on the Left Hand to be thrown down into a Prison of Eternal Darkness Meditate on the never Dying Worm that is bred in that Prison and there will fix his Venemous Teeth and Torment the Conscience for ever How to go through Hell to Heaven is a Road well known to those who have examined all the Passages which lead thither and are resolved upon that Iourney mauger all the dangers and frightful Objects and cruel usage which lye in the way to hinder them supposing it much better hereby to be scared to Happiness then to slide down delightfully to Misery we all know that the most dreadful State of those which are in Hell is express'd by Fire because it is the most terrible Element and the Meditation hereof may cause us through God's Grace to use all the proper means whereby we may escape it and that it may not be the Portion of our Cup. Now after such black and frightful thoughts which are as the Rod rather to keep us in awe and order than to assright and hurt us Let us Meditate on Heaven and this Heaven Object when duely entered upon will be so delightsome and delicious to our Souls that with the Spouse in the Canticles 2. Cap 5. they will crave whole Flaggons of it and drink so deep till they be inebriated with its sweetness For there all the precious and gracious Promises in God's Holy Word shall be fully accomplish'd and perform'd to them and what Draught can be more sweet and comfortable So that 't is our Recreation and Pleasure as well as our Obligation and Duty to Meditate on Heaven And that we may not be discourag'd from fixing our thoughts upon this Object because of the vast extent of it or surfeit them with the variety of those Delicacies which it affords For Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor can Man's Heart conceive what they are Let us set this Breviate or Epitomy of it before us and Meditate thereon Namely on the Incomparable and Incomprehensible Excellency of the Place of the unexpressible Ioys laid up in that place of the Fatness of that House of the innumerable Rivers of pleasure which glide along those Banks of the Transcendent Glory that fills every part of the Noble and Seraphical Quiristers which there attend of the Ravishing Anthems which are there heard and of the Vision of God himself which is Eternal Happiness And here Meletus looking about him and perceiving by the chearful aspects and diligent attention of his Hearers that their Ears were not yet satiated with his Lecture he went on to shew them some unquestionable Reasons why they should perform this Pious Office of Meditation and to what end and for what profit they should be so employ'd And the first Reason was because there is nothing more truly
our practice 1. Now the first Direction in order hereto is To choose out some fit time to Meditate This will much further our design and prove helpful to us We find that our Great Master chose the early Morning For then rising up before Day he went out S. Mark 1. 25. and departed into a solitary place and prayed and the Patriarch Isaac used this Exercise in the Field at the Evening Gen 24. 69. It is not absolutely necessary to pitch just upon such a certain time and no other and if that be past or busied other ways then to lay it aside but we should as near as we can pitch on such a time wherein we are most free from our Worldly occasions Nor is it requisite that all Persons observe the very same time for all have not the same business or occasions and therefore divers hours may be most proper in this present case but some peculiar time of the Day or as oft as we can we should sequester our selves for pious Meditation And verily that part of the Day which is so us'd may procure a blessing for all the other parts for God doth not forget those who do not forget him 2dly We should find out a proper place 2. Direct for this Office such a circumstance may much further this necessary employ Solomon assures us that through desire a Man Prov. 18. 1. having separated himself seeketh and meddleth with all Wisdom The mind of Man is soon disturb'd with sights and noise and those matters which hinder the free exercise of Meditation and therefore convenient places conduce much to the right performance of it The Devil would fain burthen our Ears and employ them too much that so we being intent upon the lesser may neglect our greater concerns He would entertain and 〈◊〉 our Ears with pleasant Tales and Fables that so we might take no notice whether we be Travelling to Heaven or Hell It is his Sorrow and therefore it should be our Ioy to go into our private Apartments and there fix our minds upon our present and future condition 3dly In order to due 〈◊〉 Meditation 3. Direct we must get our Hearts into a right frame for it When we have resolv'd upon the Time and the Place then we should be as careful to order our Hearts well and in good earnest this is not an easy business for our Hearts will require some pains and study before we can bring them into a Meditatimg temper They are deceitful and so may perswade us that we are when indeed we are not so well qualified for this Duty as we ought to be To Meditate is to be very intent and serious and such a disposition is neither quickly or easily procur'd and yet this Frame we must get or we can't herein perform our Duty Now the most proper means to be thus qualified is to keep our Hearts with Mede on Prov. 4. 23. all diligence that is to watch them that they do not admit such vain and foolish things into them that may put aside this Office of Holy Meditation and if we cannot at one time we must strive at another to fix and compose our minds we must take some pains in this business and the gain of it as I have shewn will more than sufficiently recompence the hardness of the Task If we can't Meditate to day or to night we must try to do it tomorrow or some other time and follow the business to purpose till we have through Gods grace brought our Minds to a Meditating frame and when we are in tune for the Duty we shall perform it with comfort You must acknowledge that Mens Ignorance herein spoils all They suppose that a short time and little labour will serve for the Duty but when they go about it and find many worldly Cares and this and that and the other trifle put them by and take them off and oblige their Thoughts to fix on them sooner than upon Heaven and Heavenly matters then they are or may be convinc'd that to Meditate is not so easie a task as they imagin'd and then as the supposed easiness of it kept them from the exercise of it for some time so now the real difficulty of it will hinder them from any performance of it Now this may be prevented and the real knowledge of the Duty of Meditation may be obtain'd if we study to keep our Hearts in a due Frame and Disposition And to do thus we should not surfeit our Minds with inferiour things nor disorder our Bodies by Intemperance for the contrary Vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frees our Souls from Vexatious Troubles and preserves them safe and sound Nor should we burthen our Memories with many Curiosities nor be always in much though perhaps not bad Company But we should be orderly and watchful and careful and sober and serious and solitary and hereby we shall keep our Hearts with all diligence and put them into a fit posture for Meditation and so exercise the Office with much delight and benefit 4thly When we would rightly Meditate 4. Direct we must preface that Office with Prayer Now Prayer is an Ascension of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heart to God and when it is presented to him with an entire and warm Affection the Tongue does not forerun the Wit that is we do not speak what we do not fore-think for God's Grace is not obtain'd by an unaccomptable Multiplication of Cyphers or Insignificant Expressions But the pious Heart shoots forth its Affections as so many keen Arrows which pierce into Heaven Upon Examination we shall find that there is not any Religious Duty which can be rightly perform'd unless it be begun with Prayer and the Reason is Because to do as we ought in Religious Matters is the Gift of God Now every S. Iam. 1. 17. good and perfect Gift cometh from above And God will not let it drop down upon us unless we first raise up our Hearts by Prayer to him Now there is no Gift of greater Benefit as you have heard than that of due Meditation and therefore this should be beg'd and earnestly beg'd of God in our daily Devotions The Difficulty of that Duty should drive us to this for if we find that we can't do a business our selves we pray help and assistance and so we should of God in this case and this may be an Argument to prevail with him to comply with our Petitions when we do pray Our Experience tells us that our Souls are weak and infirm and infected with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the plagues of Sin Now Prayer is the best and only Medicine to make them sound and so fit to exercise the Office of Meditation and the reason may be because if in Prayer we humbly and submissively acknowledge our own Weakness and declare that we cannot of our selves Meditate rightly and that we are not able to overcome
rub'd and furbish'd up and look much brighter i. e. more Vertuous than before But by Flattery he may be stroak'd with one hand when wounded with the other nay he may suffer fatally hereby for it is compar'd to Milk and as no Poison kills sooner than that which is drank herein for its Nature is so thin and subtil that all of it soon turns into Poison so the Poison of evil Manners being mixed with the Milk of Insinuation and enticeing words and with some Lip Sugar it will prove mortally dangerous and hurtful and this Condition is much worse than Sorrow and this is the first Instance Second 2. This word Sorrow as it signifies Anger may be referred to God himself as to the Ioyful and good effect it may cause For it was the Opinion of the Hebrews that it was much better when God look'd upon the Old World and the Sodomites and other egregious Sinners severely by whipping them with a Deluge and a Fire and Plagues and Diseases then when he forbore Execution on them and thereby seemed to be their Friend and take no notice of their Sins but to be altogether like themselves for in Allusion hereto the World is like a Free School the Inhabitants of it never look so carefully on their Books as when the Rod is in their Masters hand Aptly hereto faith Almighty God when Ismote them they sought me and faith the Prophet Psal. when God's Iudgments are in the Land the Inhabitants thereof will learn righteousness Esay 26. 9. And another Prophet saith in their Afflictions they will seek me early Hos 5. 15. On the contrary God's Lenity engenders Sinners obstinacy and Indulgence doth not melt but harden them like the Beasts to which they are compar'd they are rather driven out of their evil ways by fear than lead to Vertue by any kindness and Good-will For let favour be shewed to the wicked yet will they not learn righteousness Esay 26. 10. So that God is rather Angry when he shews none such Pity and Compassion is cruel and it carries a sorer stroak with it than that heat of God's Anger which ripens the Patient into good Manners for when God gives the Sinner his Request and withal sends leanness into his Soul when he stops the Psal. 106. 15. Scourge and says hold smite them no more then is God very angry You know Persons in an Hectick Fever the more full the more lean they are the more they eat the more they consume because of the Atrophy or Consumption joyn'd usually with that Disease so it is with unsorrowful wicked Men their good outward Condition destroys them for then they are froward and regardless of God for he says to Israel I spake unto them in their Prosperity but they said Ier. 22. 21. 5. We will not hear and since they were and they who imitate them are so froward as we have heard let them note that with such God will shew himself froward and 't is very terrible to lye under the Rod of a froward God So that 't is much better that God punish than indulge for as they are the more Orient Pearls which are got in the more tempestuous weather so are they the better Men who are exercis'd with the more severe Tryals for as it shall appear where the Visage is sad by Sorrow and Affliction there N. B. the Soul is chearful by Instruction and Discipline It is true God hath brought the evil Amos 2. of Misery into the World for he hath framed it and there is none of that sort but he hath appointed it but it is true also that he hath put Man into a way to discover it and to desend himself against it or make a profitable use of it for as God hath given Beasts natural defence and Weapons against that which is destructive to them the hard Skin the Hoof the Horn the Tusk the Bristle c. are clear Demonstrations hereof so instead of these he hath endow'd Man with Reason and Wisdom which defences are not outward but inward not in the Body but the Soul Now unless there were Evils which Man should be aware of and which he might distinguish from matters in their own Nature good and beneficial he should have no need of Reason and Wisdom or at least there would be one end lost for which they were given So that things good and bad are propounded to him because he is Rational and Wise and the force hereof is seen in his discerning the one from the other But now to make a good use and advantage of the evil of Misery will require a greater degree of Wisdom than only how to know it and therefore God cannot 〈◊〉 be thought severe when he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it in the World than Physitians can be who give Poisons to those Patients to whom they give Skil to make a right 〈◊〉 of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath taught good and wise Persons this Skill it may follow without prejudice to his Goodness That it is much better that the Physick of outward Calamity be given to us 〈◊〉 ' it be griping with Sorrow and Grief than that we should be let alone and consume and die with Ease Indeed the Philosophers called Stoicks are of another Opinion for they say that all Sorrow and Grief of mind should Lib. de cult div be rooted out of Mans Soul But Lactantius argues against them from the impossibility of the Effect if it should be attempted for who saith he can abstain here from if either a Plague consumes his Countrey or an Enemy invade or a Tyrant oppress it can a Man not grieve when his Liberty is snatched away or when his Friends or good Men are banished or cruelly slaughter'd unless he be so stupified as to have no use of his Senses So that whilst we are sensitive we must as occasion offers be sorrowful Creatures To say we won't lament or be sad tho' Calamity of the blackest Complexion meet us or we won't vent a sigh at the most dismal Tydings are words which cannot be made good mere vapours which will vanish away when we are put to the Tryal Our great Lord and Master who groaned in compassion to the two Sisters and wept near their Brother Lazarus's Grave and upon the thought of the terrible doom of Ierusalem gave another and better Doctrine in his Example So that Sorrow and Distress upon occasion is necessary and to make a Vertue of this Necessity is a business which we should learn and go about and will be an excellent proof of Ioyful Sorrow and that Grief is much better than Mirth Now to drive this nail in allusion to Eccles. Solomon's saying the deeper in before we fully clinch and fasten it We must note that there are several sorts of Sorrows and Adversities and Evils and all of them except those which are procured by Lusts and vicious Habits and the Prevalency through our own neglect of seducing Temptations
is very suitable to that Nature which is improved and assisted by God's Grace I have heard long since that it was a St. Thom. § 22. Com. 27. qu. 7. Question put by a School-man Whether Art 11. the Love of a Friend or an Enemy be a matter most generous and excellent And he resolves it for the Love of the Enemy I shall not loaden your Ears by making Inserences hereupon nor scratch them by School-Briars You have heard my Argument in the case and let it sink or swim flourish or wither in your due Management of it while I proceed to add that the Office which we discourse of is profitable and advantageous It will appear in our progress that it is a single Ship far richer fraighted than an whole Fleet from the Indies and a single Medal of more value than all the Golden Mines in Peru. It is the Observation of an eminent Author Plut. de 〈◊〉 Inimicor That the Gardiners do expect that their Roses and Violets should flourish the better by being set near Leeks and Onyons and their Reason is because all the sowre Iuices of the Earth are conveyed unto them Semblably An Enemy by contracting to himself our peevish qualities may render us less humoursome and more candid and ingenuous to our Friends who are in a better and more happy Condition than our selves But there is a more excellent Author who in our matter in hand wraps up a better Observation than this in an elegant Trope and it is the Royal Prophet David for when he speaks of his Enemies his rancorous Enemies he says They compassed me about like Bees and burnt Psal. 118. me like a fire in the Thorns as I have read it translated signifying that as the Bee though she prick with her Sting yet N. B. gives excellent good Honey so our Enemies though they make us smart with their Injuries yet hereby they crown our Heads with an eternal weight of Glory and as fire amongst the Thornes affrights with making strange Noises and Cracklings yet afterwards it scoures the Field from Weeds and Fern and Trash so the troublesome Injuries of our Enemies being patiently suffer'd do purge our Souls from our Sins and conduct us to the Honour which is everlasting Thus these quaint Expressions of this Royal Prophet afford us special Evidence for the Gain which we may procure from the exercise of Love to our Enemies It is true there must be some Art made use of and some Prudence set a work to procure this Profit and we deny it not where we have less advantage than we may here look for But hereupon it will not fail us or we shall not be disappointed of our hopes or not ashamed and the Reason is plain for as Profit may be got not only from tame but wild Beasts not only from Trees in the Orchard but from those in the Wood and not only from sweet but from salt and bitter Waters In like manner Profit may be acquir'd not only from domestical kind and beneficial Friends but from cruel malicious and despiteful Enemies Moreover I can make it good that if we love them we may receive greater Profit from them than from our Friends and the Reason is because these as good Fields gives us Grain Flowers and Apples N. B. But when we have got the Skill to profit by our Enemies though they be as it were scraggy and barren Mountains yet they will give us Gold and precious Iewels and questionless Rich very rich Treasure lies hid under those Shrubs Thistles and Thorns of an Enemy For I pray Note our Bodies frequently obtain Benefit and Gain from our Friends but if we love our Enemies our Souls shall procure from them the chiefest and greatest Gain and this is so sure that 't was the Opinion of a Wise Father of the Christian Church That St. Bernard for advantage sake our Enemies should be loved more than our Friends for tho' says he they mischief our Bodies yet they profit our Souls because they prepare everlasting Rewards for them and tho' they pillage us of our Carnal and Earthly things yet they gather up for us those things which are spiritual and heavenly and hence the inference is plain They are best to be loved who give us the best things and as much to be preferr'd in the exercise of our Love as eternal Riches are to temporal It is true Our Friends give us sweet and luscious things but they stifle and choak our Souls and bring them into utter Perdition And it is as true that our Enemies hate and persecute us but they are hereby the Instruments whereby we obtain Happiness for our Lord and Saviour tells us that we are happy when we are so used and since it is thus what Friend can be so beneficial to us Moreover those who are truly Courageous Christians and we should strive to be so have so much servent Charity as that they can concoct Reproaches and Injuries and be nourish'd and grow by them It is noted by Plutarch that those Beasts which have great Stomachs and healthful Bodies though they eat Scorpions and Serpents yet they can digest them and he says that there be other Beasts which are nourish'd with Stones and Shells In like manner those Couragious Christians who are hot with the flame of Divine Love can digest all evil Surmises and Reproaches which are us'd against them and they can grow plump and fat with such sort of Serpents and Scorpions that is have their Graces exercis'd and encreas'd by them And hereupon I would to God we would all look back and think of the hot Stomachs of the Martyrs and then let us consider have not they there with digested flames and hot Irons And shall we we Christians of this Age be so squeamish and of such weak Stomachs as not to digest a few angry Words and Slanders O cold Stomachs What! have many valiant Saints upon Record nay delicate Virgins indur'd patiently Racks and Beasts and many other Torments and do we say that we can't suffer the Reproaches of vile Men Have they swallowed the most distasteful and can't we sip a scarce Bitter Potion For shame How can we have the Foreheads to pray to be Partakers of Eternal Bliss with these Saints whose Examples we will not follow in little matters Believe it it is a shrewd sign that we are mostly our own Enemies and that no Person injures us so much as we do our selves unless we add the Devil to boot For upon Examination we may find that his Cloven foot bruiseth us and not the hard kickes of our inveterate Enemies He sucks the Blood not of our Bodies but Souls and does not plunder us of our perishing and corruptible Riches but of those which are eternal Man who injures and persecutes us is not our Enemy but the Minister and Instructor N. B. of our Salvation for God through his means works it for he suffers the Sinner to
of as an Handkerchief to wipe off that slaver which they rudely cast upon them It may so said Eureketas and I think if I apprehend the Case right it is thus If I should go to Law with any Person before a Iudge and all People who hear my Case tell me That it is their Opinion that I shall be cast in my Suit and by some good means or other I understand from the Iudge the quite contrary Now hereupon I should be strangely dull and simple if I should be scared by them into a Distrust of my Suit and not rather dis-regard their Opinions and put my Confidence of Success in the Iudges Rightly very rightly infer'd said Eumenes and very apposite to our Purpose for if God says we do well when we Love our Enemies and that in so doing we shall get the greatest Gain and Honour we need not matter what others prate nor fear their evil Reports if he be for us we need not be 〈◊〉 who are against us I may add hereto That if we any whit value Generosity and Honour and think that good natural and gentle Behaviour are Qualities not to be ridicul'd we shall rather forgive than revenge the Affronts and hard usages of our Enemies for there are no Persons more Contemptible than they Who seek for Glory in revenge they are more like the Hangman who spares No body than to our gracious God Who spares when we deserve Punishment and in wrath thinketh upon Mercy Nay They are more cruel than any Hangman for he makes some delay at the place of Execution to permit the Condemned person to expiate for his offence by Confession and Repentance and after that executes him without any Symptoms of Anger and Hatred but they who resolve to revenge Offences rage like mad Dogs and enraged Wolves and were it possible would destroy the Bodies and Souls of their Enemies And now if to what hath been said to the Cavils of these Enemy-haters we add a Meditation on the Deportment of David to Saul we may for ever baffle their contradictious Humour and if hereupon they bend not to a more mild and soft Temper and become yielding and compassionate they will declare themselves very willful and perverse and receive the same measure from their offended God which they meet to their offending Neighbours for tell me I pray tell me do they say That they have an Enemy which is Matchless an Enemy Cruel Subtil Envious implacable and incorrigible yet he is not worse than Saul and yet he was beloved of David and once and again and frequently endeared to him And which is highly worth our Notice at those very times when he laid a thousand Snares and Traps for his Life and persever'd in his Tyranny in spight of a World of kindness and an whole Mine of Coals of Love laid on his head which should have melted him into a more mild Temper Now what can our Enemy-haters complain of which hath any Colour of likeness to this usage Which David met with from Saul Is it besides what hath been mentioned because their Enemies have forced away part of their Inheritance Is it because they damnified their Grain and Cattle in the Fields Is it because they pillaged their Houses and against all Equity possest themselves of their Goods and made them as poor as Iob Is it because they have maliciously poison'd the precious Ointment of their good Names Is it because they live better and are more eminent in the World and have a greater Credit and Repute with their sober Neighbours than themselves have Well be it for all or some of these Causes yet surely it never enter'd into their Thoughts to murder them and their Lives found better Usage than their Fortunes But was it not even so in this Example before us And yet to these these very Miscreants the love of a Royal Heart was exercis'd O Incomparable Love And though it may not find shall it also not make some Alteration in these Enemy-haters certainly it may provided they will be at the small pains to remember a Lesson but of one word and that is Consider But by your leave said the former Inquirer Eureketas what think you of that Expression of the Primitive Father Nazianzen wherein he says there is an unprofitable Peace and an useful sort of Discord Does it not contract that Duty which you spun out almost into an unmeasurable Line and is it not against the Love you plead for as being unacquainted with any Peace which is unprofitable or any Discord which is useful No no answered Eumenes but it intimates that our Love and Peaceable Temper to our Enemies should be declar'd not upon any Terms but only such as are Lawful or which have Peace with them without Confederacy with their Lusts and jar and fight with these whilst they kiss and embrace those I beg said Eureketas the Resolution of one more Problem from you and then praying your pardon for what is past shall give no more Interruption And it is whether what you have said would not prove as injurious to the Lawyers as Enemies are to them which hate them and whether they have not as great reason to be exhorted to love hereupon as any others who have been wronged in their Trades and Estates and good Names For should your Doctrine prove Orthodox there would be little to do in Westminster Hall and the Iudges have Dan. Cronlc H. 7. as much leisure to talk or fleep as they had in that part of one King's Reign when in one Term of the Year there was but one Sergeant at Law employ'd in that Place and whether this might be prejudicial and injurious to them or not will scarce require a Poll to determine In answer hereto Eumenes said that his Doctrine of Love-Enemy stood firm and was not built upon the prejudice of the Lawyers or the Ruines of the Magistrates Authority for though we may not take it our selves yet the Iudge and Magistrate may give us Satisfaction for Injuries and Affronts 'T is true we must not require it of them with ulcerated Minds that is with Anger and Pride and Malice and Revenge or Hatred or any such infectious Passions settled in them and breaking out from them against the injurious and harmful Person But with meek humble sober peaceable and N. B. mild Tempers and it must be from a Zeal for Iustice and for Quietness sake and from a desire to make them better who have wronged us and withal 't is much very much better to lose many nay all our Worldly Concerns than to let go our Patience and Christian Charity But since these Sayings says Eumenes may be thought to be only my own Thoughts and Iudgment I shall by dint of Argument defend and maintain this my Answer as I have the Office of Love-Enemy upon which this Question depends and my Reasons are partly because God hath appointed Magistrates and Trials of Cases and Iurisdiction and he doth nothing